I love you, but I hated you first

Part 3

I couldn't sleep, and yes I know how that sounds, as someone who reads too many fictional books, this is always the start of something "different." The heroin hates one of the guys but then she can't sleep so she goes to his room for confrontation but then ends up sleeping with him. I usually am a sucker for those kinds of stories, but this is different.

My entire night was filled with tosses and turns, but with one look at the clock, I realized I had been up for about 3 hours now, and it was 2 am. I was planning to go shopping for ingredients with Nat later, but if I wanted to make it, I would have to try to fall asleep now.

The only solution I could think of was to take a lap in the swimming pool outside the compound to tire myself out. So, I got dressed in my bathing suit and covered myself with a see-through cover-up in case I ran into anyone, I wanted to keep my modesty.

Just to my luck, Bucky was there drink in hand, sitting at the kitchen table facing the pool. The fact that I see him everywhere makes me feel like they are no longer coincidences anymore, but regardless of him sitting there like a statue, I decided to still hop into the pool.

"damn that's cold, maybe just the hot tub today."

As I was about to leave the pool I noticed Barnes was staring at me.

Why is he looking over here like such a creep?

When I was actually out of the water it was even colder than when I was submerged, I let out an exclamation, "fuck so cold," and made an executive decision to speed up my pace to the hot tub.

"no shit,"

I turned to see Bucky standing half a foot away from me, water still dripping from my hair and now from my bathing suit.

I said nothing to him and walked into the hot tub. Relief washed over me as the cold from my body was instantly whisked away.

I dunked my hair into the water as it was still cold from the pool.

"you know, that's not good for you, the hot tub is really dirty,"

"Me talking to you is also not good for my mental health, yet here we are,"

The entire time Barnes was talking, he had a playful tone. I'm not sure why but it could have something to do with the fact that it's 3 in the morning.

"What are you doing up at this hour anyway, it's dark out. Pretty girls like you shouldn't be alone in the dark,"

Barnes was sitting in the beach chair closest to the hot tub, he sat it down and talked to me as I was enjoying the warm water.

I replied with a sarcastic laugh and responded with "Shouldn't pretty boys like you be at home entertaining themselves?"

"You think I'm pretty?" Barnes asked, the sly grin still plastered over his face.

"You think I'm pretty?" I retorted back

"Always a way to avoid my questions, well played Emerson,"

It wasn't until now that I realized he had a whiskey in hand.

"you like whiskey huh,"

"Yeah, the only that gets me anywhere near drunk,"

"You should pour me one, I need to get some liquor in my system before I continue talking to you,"

"Whatever you say, doll"

Doll

This nickname brought me back to reality, he is probably 100 years old.

But something in the back of my head reminded me that he held up extremely well for a man with 3 digits in his age.

I was watching him pour the liquid into a glass, and I couldn't help but admire how the veins sculpted around his hands.

I don't notice that he comes back so he grabs my attention by handing me the drink, "Here Emerson, cold and bitter, like you,"

"Call me Olivia, I can't be hating someone if we are going to stick with last names,"

"Alright, call me Bucky then,"

"Oh, I guess I have been granted permission to call you Bucky, what an honour,"

"yea yea, get it out of your system,"

I roll my eyes at him when he says that, but for the first time since arriving at the compound, I feel excited and almost like I have been accepted by them. This trust is new, but I do not put my walls down just yet, I still wasn't sure why Bucky decided to be nice to me just now, but whatever the reason is, I am not going to ruin the second chance to make things right with him. Maybe we can even be friends in the future.